Environmental Factor, February 2011, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Faculty of 1000 highlights study by Korach group

By
Eddy BallFebruary 2011

Korach is lead investigator and corresponding author on the study.
(Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)

First author on the study, Wipawee Winuthayanon, Ph.D., is a research fellow in the group.
(Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)

Senior Biologist Sylvia Hewitt is second author on the paper.
(Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)

A paper from a team of researchers led by NIEHS Principal Investigator Kenneth Korach, Ph.D.,(http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/atniehs/labs/lrdt/receptor/index.cfm) is the first NIEHS publication to be highlighted by the Faculty of 1000 (F1000) in 2011. The study, "Uterine epithelial estrogen receptor α is dispensable for proliferation but essential for complete biological and biochemical responses," appeared in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in November.

F1000 Editor-in-Chief Sarah Greene notified Korach of his paper's selection Jan. 10 and congratulated him for his accomplishment, which, she said, "places your work in our library of the top 2 percent of published articles in biology and medicine."

Korach heads the Receptor Biology Group and serves as chief of the Laboratory of Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology, which studies the mechanisms of estrogen receptor action in hormonal dysfunction and diseases, including cancers. He has edited four books and published 280 peer-reviewed articles in leading biomedical journals, as well as several book chapters.

A work of great interest

The study(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20974921) was reviewed, evaluated, and rated as a "must read" by F1000 members Jeffrey Pollard, Ph.D.,(http://www.einstein.yu.edu/reproductivebiology/page.aspx?id=21460) a researcher and Louis Goldstein Swan Chair in Women's Cancer Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Chellakkan Selvanesan Blesson, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Women's and Children's Health at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Pollard and Blesson have several notable publications in the field of reproductive biology.

In his comments(http://f1000.com/5953956) on the study, Pollard wrote, "This article is of great interest as it definitively shows that paracrine signaling is essential for uterine epithelial proliferation in the mouse. However, epithelial estrogen receptor is necessary for maintenance of viability and fertility."

"This is fascinating as it indicates cell type-specific requirements for the estrogen receptor (ER) in uterine growth," Pollard added. "This may mean that the regulation of cell proliferation is different in the human and mouse, and this could have profound implications for the study of human proliferative diseases."

"This article is very exciting and provides evidence for the first time that estradiol (E2)-induced epithelial cell proliferation in the uterus is independent of epithelial estrogen receptor (ER) alpha expression," Blesson wrote.

Evaluating top publications

F1000(http://f1000.com/) is a post-publication review group of thousands of experts worldwide who identify and evaluate the most important articles in biology and medical research publications. The selection process comprises a peer-nominated global faculty of the world's leading scientists and clinicians who rate the best of the articles they read and explain their importance in approximately 1,500 reviews each month.

According to NIEHS Biomedical Librarian and Acting Library and Information Services Branch Chief Stephanie Holmgren, approximately 88 NIEHS publications have been reviewed and highlighted by F1000 since its establishment in 2002. During the past year, in addition to the paper by the Korach group, 13 NIEHS publications were rated highly by the group. Several NIEHS researchers are current or former F1000 peer-reviewers.

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